


Chalice

by Recidivous



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Breaking Up & Making Up, F/M, Gen, Marriage, Mention of OC Children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27836386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Recidivous/pseuds/Recidivous
Summary: Happily ever after doesn't always last forever. You need to work to maintain it. Ruby returns home to her family with Oscar, and the two share a talk.
Relationships: Oscar Pine/Ruby Rose
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Chalice

**Author's Note:**

> This story is dedicated to my good friend, [Deboo](https://deboo08.tumblr.com/). Happy belated birthday and for always being my friend. You can find her art, and art and information of the children mentioned in this story on her blog and [here](https://atk-rwby.tumblr.com/).

It was sunset when Ruby found Oscar.

As he skipped rocks across the pool, disappearing past the waterfall, the ripples caused the light of the sun shimmering on its surface. The rocks and pebbles under his heel scrunched. She stood just behind him in the flower meadow where every color blossomed. Ruby hadn’t been silent when she entered their meadow, but her husband had yet to look her way. Though she drew a smile as she watched him, guilt welled up in her heart and her soul felt chained by its weight.

Ruby had done what she always promised never to do.

“Welcome home,” Oscar said as he threw the last rock in his hands, and then turning back to her. He still gave her a smile—that same smile that always invited her to cover with a kiss. Yet Ruby refrained this time. It hadn’t reached his eyes, and his words sounded torn.

“I didn’t see you inside. And the kids…”

“They went with Yang and Blake. Remember? They wanted a trip to Menagerie and wanted to invite the kids along. We tried waiting for you as long as we could, but they have a schedule to keep…”

She nodded, using it as an excuse to not meet his eyes. Ruby always loved his eyes—a beautiful mix of gold and green. Most of all, she always appreciated how it seemed to look through her and her many facades. Perhaps that was what drew her to him in the first place. Her friends and family never challenged the front she always put up for them. She always felt that they tied their control over their own destinies intrinsically to her supposed happiness. So she smiled and laughed and became perfect picture of the optimistic hero for if she didn’t, she wondered where the souls of her father and uncle would lie in her younger years.

Now she feared his eyes as much she loved them. They searched for the truth even when lies surrounded them. Worst of all, they searched for her truth and always found them. With just a glance upon her silver eyes that he spoke in worship when they first met, Ruby knew nothing more could be hidden and the rotting guilt of her choices would lay bare before him. What would he see? What would he think? She didn’t want to know. His judgment was something she never wanted to ever bear.

They stood in the secret place where they made their vow and promise to one another. In the years after Salem, they had adventured and followed their dreams. Their pursuits led them to achieving the fairy tale ending they always wanted but didn’t know they could. She became the Huntress that traveled to help others, and he the adventurer that experienced life beyond the fantasies of his childhood books. It was at the end of their journey, when they had grown travel-weary, that they found this spot where colors bloomed, the birds sang, and hope and beauty found. It was here where their love was conceived and birthed the idea of what future their lives may bring.

However, this hallowed ground may soon be tainted by the breaking of their cherished covenant.

Ruby steeled herself and opened herself to him though she clutched her cloak tighter still. She looked up to Oscar to meet his gaze, still loving and warm, but now tinged with defeat. Ruby was reminded of the boy still that she had met all those years ago. He was still there, unsure and afraid yet brimmed with cautious resolve. He held then the strength she often admired in the legends and folk tales of child heroes burdened with destiny. She felt that same tug in her as she did him, and perhaps it was this reason that she allowed him entry into her heart—first as a guest and friend, and later as her soulmate. Though his cheeks sharpened, wrinkles formed, and becoming very much a man in many ways, Ruby found that he didn’t just remind her of that boy of yesteryear. Oscar was still him and had come to offer his hope once more.

“How long has it been since we’ve seen each other face-to-face like this?” he asked, genuinely posing the question. Though sardonic and with a dry wit, Oscar never was one to be scornful to her. Even though she knew her mistakes, Ruby could see that he felt relief and love wash over him.

Yet where was the ‘Welcome home’ that rang sweet with milk and honey she grown oh so accustomed to?

“Months,” she answered him with no intention to lie or even obfuscate. “Six months. Closer to seven.”

“You missed a few birthdays.”

_Jade… Yin…_

“Did they enjoy their presents I sent?”

“Seems so,” he mentioned. _Though they would’ve enjoyed it more if you were there,_ he left unsaid.

With each word exchanged, Ruby drew closer, but Oscar drew away. With each step forward, a step back. His smile waned and waned until it became a fine line that harbored neither malice nor mirth. His shoulders slumped down and he turned away even as she reached out her hand to place them on his shoulder. She gripped and pressed him ever so slightly, but who was this man that now lied before her? Whose shoulder had she touched to make it so unfamiliar? Ruby had approached a stranger, but perhaps it was more accurate to say that she was the stranger instead?

“I’m sorry,” Ruby said to him. She wanted to show him grief, to show him the pain with her voice. Regardless of the shackles she now adorned in her soul, begging to reach out, her words ringed hollow despite no truer words being said. She never meant to be away for so long. She never wanted to go back on the vows she made to her beloved. Worst of all, she never thought she would do what her mother had done to her. How could she have left her children so brokenhearted?

Oscar sighed and nodded. “I know.” He then turned, the eyes of his judgment now imploring her. “Are you staying?”

“For now.”

“But not forever?”

His question hung in the air like a sword poised for her throat. Her mind raced, the soul in her eyes supplicating upon his gaze. Her grip withered and her arms dropped to her side. Ruby refused to look away, shocked but not affronted by the inquiry. She knew why he would ask such a thing for her. He had made sacrifices for her sake. Their children made sacrifices for her sake. Now Oscar asked her for whose sake she now considered for.

“Oscar,” she pleaded, “anything but forever.”

Unfair though it was. Unkind though it was. Had she not done the same?

He stared at her before shaking his head. She hung her own, occasionally glimpsing up to see what lied bare on his face. Disappointment clashed with expectation. Love clashed with regret. Ruby knew what her chosen sin would wrought upon his heart, but even knowing that her answer remained the same. She chose her destiny.

But he hadn’t chosen his.

Oscar lifted his hand and removed the ring that symbolized their now broken vows.

“I know you won’t choose forever, but our children didn’t choose forever either.” He took his ring and placed it in her hands, closing it on her palms. “Maybe someday I’ll also choose for now, but not yet. Come back when you can. Love when you can. But not for me. Not right now.”

He leaned forward and chastely kissed her lips. His strong arms embraced her and she him. Ruby now remembered the warmth he always offered, having forgotten it for what isolation gave her. His was a simple promise—a small hope. Yet despite knowing so, Ruby dared not delude herself that it was forgiveness. His shattered soul could not be so easily mended. Her fall from grace would be a long and painful affair.

For their chalice of communion overturned.


End file.
